November XC Recap

That’s a wrap! The 2022 cross country season has officially come to an end. It was not the ending we had hoped for, but after three months of injury and frustration, we’re ready to pick ourselves up and prepare for the track season in the spring. There were also some individual and team successes to look back on. As October came to a close we attended the Metro League Cross Country Championships at Spanish Lake Park, where we placed third as a team, with three All-Conference finishers in myself, Nick DeHaven, and Greg Britt. 

The next week, the team trudged out to Fulton for the Class 3, District 3 Championships. There, we were up against the toughest team competition in the class, as well as the fastest individual runner in Missouri history. Nevertheless, we raced till the end and finished our season strong. We didn’t qualify for state as a team as we had hoped, but junior Greg Britt ran a blazing fast time to place tenth in the district and advance to the State Championship in Columbia. 

At the state meet on Nov. 5, Greg ran his heart out to finish in 17:28 despite the bitter cold, setting a new personal best and cementing his place as one of the fastest runners in school history as only a junior. There is no doubt that the future is bright for both Greg and the rest of the team, as the varsity squad graduates only two seniors, who will almost certainly be quickly replaced by promising underclassmen like sophomores Justin Nangle, Matthew Singer, Sam Faust, and freshman Noah Kinnaman.

Looking in the future to the upcoming track season, Priory’s distance program is looking solid. Senior Yuri Batan is gunning for the school record in the 2-mile, and with the hopeful addition of soccer phenom and 800 meter beast Patrick Hamill to our 4×800 relay team, we are looking for a potential All-State finish. We’ve definitely got a lot of work ahead of us, but all in all, the future is bright for the Runnin’ Ravens!